Standard filters/exclusions question

Support
1

Two questions:

  1. What is in the standard exclusions and filters? What are ‘System files’ or what is the definition of ‘temporary files’? Can’t find these in the manual.
  2. Is it possible to add standard OS filters to an already existing backup set? I’m not offered the OSX filter set when I’m editing the set.
2

Some of this is dynamically generated (although I suppose in theory the manual could snag examples). Below is a Windows example for Maintenance user. You can try OSX CLI or Duplicati’s Commandline.

C:\Program Files\Duplicati 2>Duplicati.CommandLine.exe help filter-groups

Duplicati has several built-in groups of filters, which include commonly
excluded files and folders for different operating systems. These sets can be
specified via the --include/--exclude parameter by putting their name in
{curly brackets}.

    None: Selects no filters.
    DefaultExcludes: A set of default exclude filters, currently evaluates to:
    DefaultIncludes, SystemFiles,DefaultIncludes,
    OperatingSystem,DefaultIncludes, CacheFiles,DefaultIncludes,
    TemporaryFiles,DefaultIncludes, Applications.
    DefaultIncludes: A set of default include filters, currently evaluates to:
    None.

    SystemFiles: Files that are owned by the system or not suited to be backed
    up. This includes any operating system reported protected files. Most
    users should at least apply these filters.
     Aliases: Sys,System
      *UsrClass.dat*
      *\I386*
      *\Internet Explorer\
      *\Microsoft*\RecoveryStore*
      *\Microsoft*\Windows\*.edb
      *\Microsoft*\Windows\*.log
      *\Microsoft*\Windows\Cookies*
      *\MSOCache*
      *\NTUSER*
      *\ntuser.dat*
      *\RECYCLER\
      ?:\hiberfil.sys
      ?:\pagefile.sys
      ?:\swapfile.sys
      ?:\System Volume Information\
      ?:\Windows\Installer*
      ?:\Windows\Temp*
      C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\*
      C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\*
      C:\Users\Maintenance\index.dat
      C:\Users\MAINTE~1\AppData\Local\Temp\*
      C:\WINDOWS\memory.dmp
      C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\*
      C:\WINDOWS\netlogon.chg
      C:\WINDOWS\softwaredistribution\*.*
      C:\WINDOWS\system32\LogFiles\WMI\RtBackup\*.*
      C:\Windows\system32\MSDtc\MSDTC.LOG
      C:\Windows\system32\MSDtc\trace\dtctrace.log

    OperatingSystem: Files that belong to the operating system. These files
    are restored when the operating system is re-installed.
     Aliases: OS
      *\Recent\
      ?:\autoexec.bat
      ?:\Config.Msi*
      C:\Users\Maintenance\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\
      C:\WINDOWS.old\
      C:\WINDOWS\

    TemporaryFiles: Files and folders that are known to be storage of
    temporary data.
     Aliases: Temp,TempFiles,TempFolders,TemporaryFolders,Tmp
      *.tmp
      *.tmp\
      *\$RECYCLE.BIN\
      *\AppData\Local\Temp*
      *\AppData\Temp*
      *\Local Settings\Temp*
      ?:\Windows\Temp*
      C:\Users\Maintenance\AppData\Local\Temp\

    CacheFiles: Files and folders that are known cache locations for the
    operating system and various applications
     Aliases: Cache,CacheFolders,Caches
      *\AppData\Local\AMD\DxCache\
      *\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\Mobile Sync\
      *\AppData\Local\Comms\UnistoreDB\
      *\AppData\Local\ElevatedDiagnostics\
      *\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VSCommon\*SQM*
      *\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Store\
      *\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\
      *\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\
      *\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\UPPS\
      *\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache*
      *\AppData\Local\Packages\
      *\Application Data\Apple Computer\Mobile Sync\
      *\Application Data\Application Data*
      *\Dropbox\Dropbox.exe.log
      *\Dropbox\QuitReports\
      *\Duplicati\control_dir_v2\
      *\Google\Chrome\*cache*
      *\Google\Chrome\*Current*
      *\Google\Chrome\*LOCK*
      *\Google\Chrome\Safe Browsing*
      *\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cookies
      *\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cookies-journal
      *\iPhoto Library\iPod Photo Cache\
      *\Local Settings\History\
      *\Mozilla\Firefox\*cache*
      *\OneDrive\.849C9593-D756-4E56-8D6E-42412F2A707B
      *\Safari\Library\Caches\
      *\Temporary Internet Files\
      *\Thumbs.db
      C:\Users\Maintenance\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\
      C:\Users\Maintenance\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\
      C:\Users\Maintenance\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies\
      [.*\\(cookies|permissions).sqlite(-.{3})?]

    Applications: Installed programs and their libraries, but not their
    settings.
     Aliases: App,Application,Apps
      C:\Program Files (x86)\
      C:\Program Files\
      C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative
      Tools\
      C:\Users\Maintenance\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start
      Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools\




C:\Program Files\Duplicati 2>

I’m not sure where the GUI offer shown in the manual went to. I don’t see it on Windows either. Option is:

–default-filters

Adding things like filters applies to new backups. If you can’t wait for it to just age out, you can purge, but a –dry-run before actual removal would be wise. There are some issue reports. Unclear if it’s bugs or usage.

3

Not sure if the standard exclusions are documented anywhere more readable, but you can see them in the source code. Windows exclusions start at line 183, OSX at 252, and Linux at 330.

Not sure of the answer to your second question.